Port Healthcare Center
6 Hale Street, Newburyport MA 01950 · (978) 462-7373 · 89.91% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Located in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Port Healthcare Center is one of just three facilities in this area. We think highly of this facility, which we awarded a B+ overall. We were equally impressed with the city grade of facilities in Newburyport, making this a great place to find a nursing home. This nursing home definitely has plenty going for it. This place's impressive profile was highlighted by its inspection score, which is addressed in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 123 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
On top of being a strong nursing home overall, this nursing home also excelled in our inspections category, where it received an A-. Not many facilities fared better in that area. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in calculating our inspection grades. One key factor is health deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of these deficiencies is arguably more important than the number of deficiencies, as some of these are relatively insignificant. Unfortunately, we weren't able to locate information about this nursing home's deficiencies. We wish we had more information about this facility. Without having all of the deficiency data, it was a challenge to evaluate it in this area.
Short-term Care Quality
This nursing home performed well in the area of short-term care. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A- for that area, which turns out to be one of our most elite scores. In the area of short-term care, we seek to evaluate indicators of a facility's rehabilitation services. We assess the nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses and various therapists. This nursing home boosted its score in this category by offering more physical therapy hours to its residents than the average facility. Finally, we looked at the percentage of patients that returned home from this facility. On top of excelling in the area of physical therapy, we found that it fared as well as just about any nursing home in the country with 59.8 percent of its patients returning home. Most nursing homes are below 50 percent in this metric.
Nurse Quality
Another one of this facility's impressive category grades came in the area of nursing care. We awarded them one of our better scores in that area, with a grade of B+. Our nursing score assesses the facility's level of nurse staffing. We consider both the levels of licensure of those nurses and the number of hours spent with patients. This place provides an incredible 4.4 hours of nursing care per patient each day. This is far more care than what is offered by most places. Lastly, this place also performed well in several of the quality measures we assessed. In terms of the percentage of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, this facility performed better than the national average.
Long-term Care Quality
Moving on to our next category, this facility received an excellent long-term care score. This facility didn't prove to have any weak spots. In a long-term care environment, the facility's primary objective is to keep patients healthy and safe. This is different than skilled nursing or short-term care where the goal is to rehabilitate patients. In addition to considering the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we also looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 92.16868 percent of its residents. This is a few points below what we were hoping for but still a respectable figure. Lastly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. With only 1.32 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this facility has less hospitalizations than the majority of nursing homes.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Port Healthcare Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percentage of patients who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, also referred to as bed sores, are routinely caused by patients not being moved frequently enough. Better nursing care reduces the number of pressure ulcers sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This datapoint gauges the percent of long-term patients which had falls leading to serious injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but high rates of major falls could be a sign of poor nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This figure is an indication of the percentage of long-term stay residents who have had urinary tract infections. While a higher rate of these infections could reflect poorly on a facility's hygiene protocols, it can be difficult to compare different facilities due to nursing homes having reporting standards.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This is the percent of residents who were given antipsychotic medications. Antipsychotic medications are prescribed to residents for many medical conditions, such as cognitive disorders. Sadly, in some situations, increased usage of these drugs may indicate a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This metric is an indication of the percentage of long-term residents receiving antianxiety medications.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This tells you the percent of patients who are exhibiting signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is the percent of residents that received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This metric is a measure of the percentage of long-term patients that required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as getting dressed and eating.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is the percent of patients that were able to retain mobility over time. Preserving mobility is often a good sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This datapoint measures the number of times residents are hospitalized per 1,000 days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
Measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This datapoint measures the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
Measures the percentage of short-term stay patients who saw functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better